To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (102 ) 4/19/1998 10:30:00 PM From: C.K. Houston Read Replies (2) | Respond to
<<>>><In BugNet's own tests, it appears the following rule generally holds true: If you bought your PC after the spring of 1996, you're probably OK. >>Two of my puters were bought in 95. They were not Y2K compliant, but a simple flash rom bios update fixed them. Then I ran this program: Free software to check your P.C. >y2000fix.co.nz Pretty simple. 600 NEW 1997 NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION PC'S FAIL Y2K Although many agencies assume new PCs will be Year 2000-compliant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently discovered that an order of 600 high-end computers (delivered in 1997) failed to pass its test , and the group is now working with its contractor on an upgrade.NRC found a problem with new 200 MHz Pentium PCs that it bought in January '97 under a contract with Sylvest Management Systems Corp. NRC personnel discovered a problem with an internal clock on the PCs' motherboards while testing the products for Year 2000 compliance.The PCs passed an earlier test administered by NRC, but the August test found that the systems' real-time clock was not year 2000 compliant , said Guy Wright, chief of the end-users support-services branch at NRC. ''A new test became available that exercised the real-time clock rather vigorously,'' Wright said. Dallas Semiconductor readily admits that the real-time clocks used in the NRC PCs are not compliant. The company has been manufacturing chips with and without a ''century counter'' that provides Year 2000 compliance, said Jim Lott, senior product manager for Dallas Semiconductor's timekeeping group.The noncompliant clock, which cost 60 cents less per chip , is contained on the board manufactured by EliteGroup. Lott said the differerence appears small but makes a big difference to volume manufacturers when they buy components.Feds signal deepening Y2K crisis fcw.com
